-------------
Chapter 12
-------------

The crack of dawn on a Wednesday morning was deceptively calm for the city of Paragon. The main road leading to the Founder’s Creek police station was no different.

Maryann chose to change that.

She burst through the front doors of the station, towing two frightened men by the lasso she had bound them with. With her abrupt entrance, Mary said, “Hello, Paragon’s finest! I’ve come bearing gifts.”

Then Mary realized the flaw in her spectacle. There was only one officer behind the lobby desk, looking at her like some random oddball, and the briefly seen head and curious gaze of another officer that peeked through a conjoining doorway. The latter officer continued to wherever he’d been going prior to Mary’s arrival.

“The one time I get excited about something,” remarked Mary. She walked closer to the front desk. “I believe these two men have something to tell you.”

At that instant, a hero entered through the front door. He bellowed, “Stop right there, villain! Where do you think you’re taking these men?”

Mary said, “I’m merely taking these crime suspects for a walk to the nearest police station. You can relax.”

“Well, then,” said the hero, “Do you need an escort? We wouldn’t want you getting lost, now would we?”

Oh, for the love of Captain Patriot. Even the iconic Dudebro was better than this.

“I’m pretty sure I got it. Thanks.” commented Mary, “Here you go.”

She handed the rope to the officer behind the desk, trying not to let him touch her. Then she walked out, finally free of the two men who rode the small boat with her to the mainland. Her cloaked flowed behind her, so she had the added bonus of learning how to close the door without getting her garment caught.

The officer said to the generic hero, “Weren’t you going to bust her?”

***

Over the past couple days, Mary had had the mages make or buy separate pieces of her new costume. It was this that she wore while she stood on top of a random building. Mary felt the breeze and morning sun brush through her, pushing back the loose cloth of her cloak and knee-length skirt. If it wasn’t for her curled horns, Maryann’s hood would have blown off of her head as well.

And I’m bored. Note to self, Wednesday mornings are for sleep and civilian work.

As if on cue, the siren of a fire engine rang out in the distance. Mary followed the noise to a thin stream of smoke coming from the west. She ran for it.

Galaxy Park was where the suburbs to the west met the heart of the city, and it was home to several apartment buildings and small shops or restaurants surrounding the primary, titular landmark of the area. One of the apartment buildings was on fire. It needed to be put out before the damage spread too far. Siren’s Gauntlet to the north had seen more than enough financial ruin or devastation for both districts combined. More than that, Maryann had lives to save; good to be done.

The building’s residents evacuated from their apartments until they were all outside, and one of them shouted for a child who was apparently still inside. Maryann arrived in time to hear about the boy trapped upstairs.

Grimacing at the odds of needing to save a boy while in succubus form, Mary ran upstairs through the burning building to the apartment she’d been directed toward. The heat meant little to her, but the smoke was atrocious in its assault on her eyes and throat. Luckily, the door didn’t take long to reach. She unfastened the cloak around her neck before crashing through the door of the apartment.

The boy had been coughing in his sleep, but he was starting to wake up. The smoke and fire scared him. Was this his punishment for trying to skip school? The boy yelled out for help seconds before a woman appeared at the opened door to his bedroom. She ran with the cloak in her hands, nabbing him like it were some sort of sack.

Outside, the boy’s parents waited with baited breath and the beginnings of crying out for their worst fears. One of their neighbors consoled them when everyone heard a loud crashing noise. The horned woman who had run inside had made an exit of her own through one of the walls, and she descended with her cloak looking like a bag and a pair of dark wings sprouting from her back. The wings kept her from falling too quickly.

Her feet touched upon the ground, and the wings retracted. The boy kicked around the makeshift bag while Mary set it down. His concerned parents ran to their emerging son then, and then pulled him away from the horned woman, who reached down to grab her cloak.

“Get out of here, you!” one resident said.

“Your kind isn’t welcome here,” said another.

“Amethyst was a time bomb waiting to go off. A demon is asking for trouble,” followed one more voice, which was in turn followed by everyone disagreeing.

They shouted incoherently then, shaking their fists in the air. They closed in on Mary, who felt afraid both for her own life and those of everyone there. She might have expected this sort of reaction from either the Kingston district or back home in Arizona, but not here. She needed to get away without doing anything she would regret. The people needed time and distance, but they closed in on her despite shouting at her to leave.

“Hold it!” shouted a hero, who stomped onto the ground by Mary. It was that same generic hero from the police station. Everyone stopped when he appeared.

He had presence; Maryann gave him that.

The hero said, “Listen to me, this woman only wishes to help you. Don’t let yourselves be twisted by her appearance when you might just owe her for your livelihood. You’re better than the news stations, my friends.”

One of the residents said, “Who are you again?”

Another said, “Will neither of you do something about the fire?”

Mary replied, “The fire department is here, and they are more than capable of putting out this fire.”

“Our belongings.”

“Everything’s burning in there!”

“You’re the one who started it, didn’t you?”

“Villain! Villain!”

A rock flew her way, and missed her head by a hair.

She had enough, and Mary fled when she saw an opening. She bumped into one person in the escape, but she could not see who it was. She ran too fast. Looking back wasn’t an option for her.

Maryann found herself an alleyway, and stopped there to bow her head and swear. Her new reveal as a hero did not work anywhere as well as her first appearance as Adamast Cross about six years ago. That time was lacking, but no one outright attacked him. It was going to take time to earn people’s trust. The time it was going to take did not mesh well with her patience, so Mary decided she was going to look for one more deed and call it a day. She turned in place.

Something hard hit Mary in the head, knocking her unconscious.

A man stood over her with a baseball bat. His grin widened.

***

Morning shifts were never her favorite, but Tatiana still worked the barista cart inside the lobby of Steel Canyon’s hospital as if she hadn’t been up all night. She really needed to see a doctor, but the earliest appointment she could get was not for another four days. Tatiana shrugged it off, and dished out another cup of coffee. The band-aid on her forehead and lack of sleep did nothing to detriment her smile, though the occasional customer did ask in passing what had happened.

The lie she’d chosen was an accident on Monday—her husband had earned a smack upside the head by calling it an eventful one—involving an object falling on her head while she put groceries away. What was she going to say? That someone had shot her in the face the exact second her invulnerability had come back?

She was somehow doubly lucky that no one in her family—which owned the line of barista carts found in hospitals and few other places around the Paragon area—heard about her little injury, or she would never hear the end of it from her parents, who already bothered Tatiana enough about having kids.

Having such powers, she wasn’t even sure pregnancy was possible.

The first few hours of her morning shift went on like normal, or rather as normal as being in Paragon would allow. Moments before her lunch break was due to start, Wyatt appeared at the front door of the hospital.

“Hey you,” he said, walking closer, “Are you ready to grab something to eat?”

“Just about,” Tatiana responded.

Wyatt indicated the band-aid on her forehead, and whispered, “I thought I healed that.” It was a small injury by the time he saw it, and like nothing ever happened by the time he was done with it.

“You did, but there were people who saw it a few days ago. Non-metahumans typically don’t heal in three days like this, and no one knows I am one except for friends, family, and some members of the military or government. You know how it is.”

“I suppose most people don’t. Come on, the pizza place down the way changed their sauces to something edible. Let’s go try it.”

***

A gang leader and one of his followers argued in a corner away from the horned woman. The man who had dragged her inside started fucking her at the doorway, no matter how many people told him to stop. They had had to bludgeon the man to death to make him stop, and the woman was still panting for more, in spite being unconscious, at the doorway of their hideout.

“You see those horns? Her touch bewitches you.”

“No such thing is possible.”

“Paragon to Mr. Boss, but magic is very common around here. Look at the Circle. Look at the schools teaching arcane studies.”

“Nonsense, all of it. I once kidnapped a girl who thought she could magic her way out of anything, and I buried her alive. No one’s found her yet.”

“Explain why Dominic started doing what he was doing then. He’s an asshole, we all are, but none of us resort to rape.”

The boss was about to respond when the horned woman stirred. She sat up, rubbing her head.

What happened? Mary wondered. And why am I so wet?

Her eyes followed a trail of blood to a body in a trashcan outside. Then she turned her head to find a number of men, and two female hookers, staring at her. Mary’s head throbbed, but she knew what gang this was. Paragon was a large city with lots of potential hideouts, and she stumbled on the den of one of the most infamous, elusive, and unstoppable gangs. Just perfect.

Maryann stood up, and said, “So, who wants to be arrested first?”

The gang laughed, most of them nervously. Their boss took a few steps closer. The whole gang wore demonic masks; the hookers wore glittered eye masks with feathers. No one knew the true identity of the boss, but some law officials and heroes had their theories. As Adamast, Mary always wanted a chance to interrogate a few candidates, but now, as a succubus trying to make it as a hero, she found that the chance had fallen on her wet lap.

“Who are you?” asked the boss.

“You’ll have to do without a name,” said Mary.

“You look like a demon, but we both know those don’t exist. Those are nothing more than a fairy tale. If you’re going to be like a child, then my ladies here can teach you what you need to know to become mature like one of them. We can always use another delicious young woman in our midst.”

“Small problem—I’m a hero and a succubus. I have a need to kick your butts, and a touch that will intoxicate every man with more lust than he can handle.”

“No such thing—“

“As magic? Powers? If only. What an idiot like you is doing in Paragon, I’ll never know. Even the residents of Kingston know such things happen, though they are unfriendly towards it. Tell you what, tell me what you did to that little girl, and I’ll go easy on the whole lot of you before bringing you to justice.”

The hookers closed in on her, and the boss said, “I have a better idea. Why don’t my girls here teach you some manners, starting now?” The two women tackled Mary to the ground.

One hooker extended a hand to give her a spanking. Big mistake. Mary used her super strength to break free, throwing both women to separate ends of the den. She knew the likelihood of things going wrong, of every man in the room trying to fuck her, but there was little more choice than to run away. Maryann clenched her fists.

In the den, there were eight men and two women, not counting Maryann. After the two hookers went flying across the room, most of the men started running at the succubus to try to subdue her. One man was in the lead.

Maryann grabbed his wrist, and used her other hand to both break and dislocate the first man’s arm. Then she kicked the side of his head, and back-flipped with the same head nestled between her feet, taking the man with her. He was down and out, but still breathing. She was careful not to use too much strength, or she’d kill these men.

She was in a crouching position upon landing. Mary countered the second man with a punch to the gut. Another left hook brought him down. The next five men went down just as easy. The hookers fled with what little clothing they had.

All that was left was the boss.

He jumped down from his upper level of the den, and beckoned with his hands. The man posed with one of his martial arts forms.

Mary thought to herself that she should have learned more from Princess Undercut when she had the chance, but that was well beyond a moot point now. She simply walked to the last man standing, and grabbed the wrist that tried to parry a hit that wouldn’t come. When the man’s eye twitched, and his pupils dilated, she knew she had him.

The gang’s boss took a step closer. Maryann pushed him all the way back to a wall with a hand on his chest. She hoped to restrain him as long as necessary before her own urges took over.

“Now,” Maryann said, “You’re going to tell me everything.”

She was feeling that wet warmth already. Mary needed to make this quick.

“What did you do with the girl you kidnapped?”

***

Ohm Wire felt the presence nearby. She followed it across town.

At one point along the way she found a hapless would-be mugger aiming his weapon at an old lady. He saw Ohm Wire approach steadily, coolly, and with little regard for him, and became suddenly unsure of himself and what he was about to do to his already frightened victim. Ohm Wire nonchalantly socked him in the stomach, quickly, and somersaulted him into the ground, resuming her walk when it was done.

She continued until she reached an alleyway with an open door at the far side, short of the dead end. This was it. Two days of wandering the city, and her other half was here. Ohm Wire had drifted all that time, but her mind would be whole again.

She crossed the length of the closed alley. Upon reaching the door, she heard a woman moaning in ecstasy. Inside, a horned woman rode a man twice her size with her back turned from the door. The woman and man both screamed out.

Then the man turned to dust, causing Maryann to fall to the ground. The high from the energy she took in outweighed her shame, but she now knew what she needed to know. It was the only real relief that she could find. It had to be enough. Her soul needed it to be enough.

Mary looked up and behind her, and saw a familiar face looking down on her. Her heart tried to jump out of her chest and make for the moon, and the shame took over at last, weighing the succubus to the ground like a boulder over a rag.

“Kyra, is that you?” Maryann asked.

“Who are you?” asked Ohm Wire, her white eyes stealing the other woman’s attention.

“It’s me, Mary . . . David.” Mary stood up. “I got the body, and you got the eyes. But, you’re still you, right? Kyra?”

“I . . .” Ohm Wire raised her shaking hand, holding three armlets. “These are for you. Two who lost their way, one who lost his life because of his way.”

“What happened to you? Look into my eyes. Kyra, please say something that’s actually you. Please tell me you’re alright.”

“I-I can’t. No, don’t make me—“ Ohm Wire was on the verge of tears when Mary took her into her warm embrace. She dropped the armlets, and thought that she might drop herself. “David! What have I done? Men are dead because of me. I killed them. I actually killed them.”

“You and me both. We’re not alone anymore.”

“And you have boobs, and some hard things on the sides of your head. What the fuck?”

Mary laughed. “I’m a succubus now. That demon entered both of our bodies, and affected us differently.”

“David is a terrible name for a woman, you know.”

“I’ve noticed. It's why I chose Mary.”

"Somehow I love it. It fits you."

They continued to sniff and bawl and hug for a while until they heard the sound of boots marching outside. Mary and Kyra looked to the door, and saw a man standing there. He was a high ranking officer of the Vambracemen.

Captain Bates said, “This is such a touching reunion. Too bad we have to break it up, for now.”

“What do you want?” asked Maryann.

“Oh, I could list a lot of things, but right now, I just want our prisoner back.” He pointed to Ohm Wire. “She killed a few of my men, and fled one of our facilities.”

“And if you want to live yourself, then you’ll turn around and never come back.”

“Bold words for a succubus surrounded by the full force of the law.” Two rows of men and women charged in, dressed as the captain was, with the precision of a well-trained military. Any normal person or lesser villain might have found them intimidating. “Don’t make us take her by force.”

“Damn it,” Ohm Wire said with a sigh. Mary was about ready to fight them all if she had to, but Ohm Wire went on, “I’m so sorry. It’s so not fair.”

“Justice is hardly ever fair.”

“Shut up! I wasn’t talking to you. I’ll go, but only if you leave my girlfriend alone.” She gave Mary one last, sad look before walking to the exit.

Mary shivered, feeling like a heavy, vital piece of her was being taken away. “Kyra!” she shouted. She moved after Ohm Wire, but was swiftly pinned down by two Vambracemen with as much combined strength as she had.

Ohm Wire and most of the militia had already gone when Mary realized there were two men holding her down.

The captain said, “That’s a good girl. Now, you play nice, and happy feeding, Maryann.”

He walked out, leaving two men behind to die. Two men who truly respected the law and everything that Captain Patriot stood for; discarded because their captain ordered it so. Mary shouted her protests, but none of her attempts to claw herself free worked. Her body began to want the two men, but her heart and mind wanted someone else.

That someone else was fading, it seemed.

The succubus felt her heart and mind slip away, and she gave in to shameless pleasure.